Egyptian Military Demolishes 10 tunnels on Gaza Border

The Egyptian army has demolished ten more tunnels under the border with the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade for the past 79 months.

The tunnels were destroyed on Saturday as a part of the military-appointed government’s campaign of tightening the noose around the Palestinians living in Gaza.

The Egyptian army has destroyed hundreds of tunnels since it ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in a coup in July last year.

The tunnels are the only lifeline for Gazans living under the Israeli siege. Palestinians use the tunnels to bring essential supplies, such as foodstuff, cooking gas, medicines, petrol, and livestock, into the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday, the Egyptian army also destroyed several homes in the Sinai Peninsula as part of a new plan to create a buffer zone along its border with Gaza.

The campaign began with a military operation in the border town of Rafah where tunnels leading into the Gaza Strip were destroyed.

The zone would potentially threaten dozens of homes in the town, which has been divided by an international border since the 1982 Camp David Accords.

Thousands of Palestinians were displaced in the early 2000s when Israel demolished homes to build a buffer zone on the Palestinian side.

The 1.7 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip are living in what is called the world's largest open-air prison as Israel retains full control of the airspace, territorial waters, and border crossings of the territory.

Gaza has been blockaded by the Israeli regime since June 2007, a situation which has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.